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Reviews
Department of Debt (2011)
An average citizen is blackmailed into a heinous plot against the citizenry of the USA
Writer/producer/actor Bill Shick has written a witty and perceptive short about a seemingly-normal, but highly deranged, bureaucrat who has devised a devious way of retiring the 14 Trillion Dollar debt that the USA currently carries. It's how he bludgeons an unwitting average citizen into signing off on a dubious contract makes it funny and non-exploitive. Shick and co-star Joshua Childs, under the creative direction of Lou Chanatry, make this chilling little comedy very real. Same kudos to film editor Marlyce Moore and the uncredited costumer. Plus Scott W. Hallgren's original score, menacing and tinkly all at the same time.
Congrats to all for an entertaining 13-minute short.
Downton Abbey (2010)
A satisfying social drama presaging the changes upcoming in pre-WWI Britain.
Julian Fellowes' intelligent (and sophisticated) take on pre-World War I society of aristocrats and worker-bees is smart-writing on the changes we will see over the next 25 years, encompassing two major wars and a great depression. The writing and the casting make this many steps above "soap opera" as the themes of social mobility and aristocratic incompetence are sharply etched.
All of it pleased me, from the smallest character to the dozen or so leads, lead off by the always-brilliant Maggie Smith. This is to be enjoyed for both its eye-candy (Downton Abbey) and its themes of rich- and-poor dilemmas. Gorgeously shot with accurate art-direction. Wonderful all the way around.